January 11, 1997

Pres Eduard A Shevardnadze of Republic of Georgia says his Government is prepared to waive diplomatic immunity for Gueorgui Makharadze, a senior Georgian diplomat involved in an auto accident in downtown Washington that killed 16-year-old Joviane Waltrick; White House and State Department welcome announcement; police says Makharadze had been drinking and was driving too fast at time of accident (M)

Civic pride in Jacksonville, Fla, soars as Jacksonville Jaguars contend in National Football League playoffs; people there believe success of Jaguars, an underdog team that continually defied expectations, means some overdue national respect for the city; photo (M)

Cockpit voice and data recorder is recovered from Comair commuter plane that crashed in Raisinville Township, Mich, on Jan 9; eyewitness accounts and history of the downed aircraft, a Brazinian-made Embraer 120 turboprop, make it likely that investigators will pay close attention to condition of the plane's propellers and the snowy weather and icy conditions at the time of the crash; map; photo (M)

US creates 262,000 jobs in December, and hourly pay rises by 6 cents, providing powerful new evidence that the economy is gathering fresh momentum and raising specter of higher inflation and of a decision by Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to counter it; unemployment remains unchanged at 5.3 percent for the month; Pres Clinton dismisses any worries about inflation, pointing instead to jobs created in his term; stock market responds favorably, but the yield on 30-year Treasury bond rises and prices dip; graphs (M)

Republican and Democrats exchange a new round of bitter accusations over the case against House Speaker Newt Gingrich, but the course the ethics committee will follow remains uncertain; Democrats say tape-recorded telephone conversation between Gingrich and Republican allies in the House shows that he broke his word to ethics committee that he would not 'orchestrate' his own defense, while Republicans seize on the tape as a violation of the law; New York Times is criticized for publishing transcript of conversation and defends itself (M)